1. Technical Field
The invention relates to a returnable container physical distribution management system using a computer network such as the internet and, more particularly, to a returnable container physical distribution management system using information system in which an information system as a network and IC cards attached to returnable containers are used in combination to allow comprehensive management of returnable containers used for baling or packing products transported between producers, wholesalers and/or warehouses and retailers (retail stores).
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of physical distribution, returnable containers have been widely used to transport and carry products such as vegetables and fishes in a baled or packed state. Returnable containers are frequently transported between producers (farmers, fishermen, and so on), wholesalers and warehouses and retailers and, presently, they are not sufficiently managed. A technique for managing returnable containers is to allow data processing on them by printing bar codes for data processing on the exterior of returnable containers or by applying bar code labels thereto.
A system for managing returnable containers with bar codes has problems in that it is limited in the amount of information that can be processed and in that the relationship between bar code readers and the system can not be completely automated and bar code data can not be updated. When returnable containers are managed on an off-line basis using telephones and facsimile machines, a problem arises in that the management is very much inefficient and less reliable.
The present invention has been conceived taking the above-described situations into consideration, and it is an object of the invention to provide a returnable container physical distribution management system that is adapted to the information society and to provide a returnable container physical distribution management system using an information system in which IC cards are attached to returnable containers to increase the amount of processed data and which is easily connected to the internet through terminals to efficiently manage the returnable containers that are transported between producers, wholesalers and/or warehouses and retailers. It is another object of the invention to provide a product inspection system which is compatible with existing physical distribution information such as ITF (standard symbols for physical distribution based on JAN codes) and which relies upon IC cards for adding returnable containers with information such as places of production, producers (manufacturers), dates of manufacture, harvest information, time limits for consumption, time limits for eating, methods for storage, product ranks, product specifications, selling prices, buying prices and product quality.
In a returnable container physical distribution management system using an information system according to the present invention, a computer network interconnects a terminal at a management canter for governing the system as a whole, a terminal at a returnable container delivery center for distributing returnable containers having IC cards attached thereto, a terminal at a producer who produces and ships products, and a terminal at a wholesaler and/or warehouse who wholesales and stores the products, and data are transmitted and received between the computer network and the IC cards at the terminals in routes physical distribution of the returnable containers to allow physical distribution of the returnable containers to be managed at the management center on a comprehensive basis.